Is Your Business Using Foursqaure To Reach Customers?

As Foursquare, the mobile location based social app becomes more popular to users, businesses are going to benefit from using it for marketing purposes.  As I explained in a previous post, 7 Quick Steps To Foursquare Marketing…a good practice is to check in to your own business to build awareness to your networks.

Note: If you’re a business where customers come to you such as a bar/restaurant/etc you don’t need to self-check in

However, as @northeastclng of Northeast Cooling emailed me and pointed out…it would be a big help to be able to add check ins to post not only to Twitter, but also to a brand’s Facebook Page.

Foursquare does not currently have an option to check in to a Facebook Page, only a profile.  So I had to get a bit creative to pull this off.

Here’s How To Post Foursquare Check-In’s To Your Facebook Page

1. Install the Selective Twitter Status App
   
2. Sync Your Foursquare & Twitter Accounts
3. Use #fb hashtag on your Foursquare Check ins

Step 1: Install Selective Twitter Status App On Facebook

• Log into your Facebook account
• Go to the Selective Twitter Status app
• If you’re taken to their Page select “Go To Application” (top left under logo)
• (default page should be “Your Profile”)  Add your Twitter handle and hit “Save”

• Go to the “Your Fan Pages” tab
• Add your Twitter handle to the choosen Facebook pages

• Select “Grant Permission“
• An “Allow Setting” tab will pop up…click on the pages you want added.
• Select “Allow Publishing” button

• Now you should see a “Yes” next to your pages
• Select “Save Changes“

And you’re all set!!!  That’s It.  Your Facebook Page or Pages is set to recieve updates from Twitter.  So now any tweet you send with a #fb hashtag will show up as a post to your selected Facebook Page.

Step 2: Sync Your Foursqaure Account To Update Twitter

• Login to Foursquare
• Go to the “Settings” page
• Scroll down to “Linked Accounts“
• Add your Twitter Handle

Step 3:  Foursquare Check-in With #fb Shout

• When ever you check-in to Foursquare select “Tap to add a shout!“
• If you want them to show up on your Facebook Page, include “#fb” hashtag to your shout.

Now, whenever your Foursquare check-in is posted to Twitter…your Facebook Page will recognize the #fb hashtage and auto post to your selected Pages.  There will be a slight delay in updates, but this is the easiest way to update your Foursquare Check Ins to your Facebook Page.

BOOM!  Done-zo…that’s it.

You’ve now successfully pimped your Facebook Page to add Foursqaure Check-ins.

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Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a marketing strategist with a specialty in social media.  He is an avid blogger and active across the net.  He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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Facebook User Stats

Here is a great list of important Facebook stats.  If you’re going to incorporate Facebook into your social media marketing strategy, you need to have an understanding of the Facebook user.

Here is a terrific breakdown of user activity.

As you can see, the average Facebook user’s activity is limited when it comes to pages, event, and groups.  If you’re trying to engage in targets to attend an event or join your Page / Group…you better have a good pitch.

Create a compelling reason to join your page.  Really focus on langauge that creates value of your event.

Avergage Facebook User Stats

• Average user has 130 friends on the site
• Average user sends 8 friend requests per month
• Average user spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook
• Average user clicks the Like button on 9 pieces of content each month
• Average user writes 25 comments on Facebook content each month
• Average user becomes a fan of 4 Pages each month
• Average user is invited to 3 events per month
• Average user is a member of 13 groups

Facebook User Totals

• More than 400 million active users
• 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• More than 35 million users update their status each day
• More than 60 million status updates posted each day
• More than 3 billion photos uploaded to the site each month
• More than 5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each week
• More than 3.5 million events created each month
• More than 3 million active Pages on Facebook
• More than 1.5 million local businesses have active Pages on Facebook
• More than 20 million people become fans of Pages each day
• Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans

Facebook Mobile Statistics

• There are more than 100 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
• People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice more active on Facebook than non-mobile users.
• There are more than 200 mobile operators in 60 countries working to deploy and promote Facebook mobile products

(information directly from Facebook.com)

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Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a marketing strategist with a specialty in social media. He is an avid blogger and active across the net. He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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I’m sorry…I just can’t let this story die.  There’s just too many lessons we can apply back to social media marketing and Public Relations.

So as we all know, a Pickle has fan more fans than the band Nickelback.  Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the lead singer, Chad, that the whole thing is tougne and cheek.  It’s a joke dude.

Apparently the “Rockstar” (I’m using this term as loosely as I can because I don’t know anyone who can actually call this rock music)…the Rockstar ego cannot allow to lose to the pickle without a fight.  Tonight Nickelback went on the attack.  Basically, they cried like rockstar babies and want the page banned. (Even Perez Hilton weighed in)

Here’s the PR lesson folks…they come directly from The Art of War by Sun Tzu.  And one from Bugs Bunny.

No general should fight a battle simply out of pique

I’m sure it comes as a slap in the face, but really Nickelback…really?  You seriously care about this?  This is how you chose to spend your time?  To go after the group and trying to get it banned from Facebook is only justifying how much of a turd sandwhich the group all thought you were.  Congrats to proving their point to everyone who wasn’t a fan yet.

Why fan the fire?  Do not pick a fight out of emotion, you play into their hands and will be crushed by them.

It is through the dispositions of an army that its condition may be discovered. Conceal your dispositions, and your condition will remain secret, which leads to victory; show your dispositions, and your condition will become patent, which leads to defeat

The disposition is clearly not concealed.  Your disposition is now on the internet and is going viral faster than swine flu.

A clever general, therefore, avoids an army when its spirit is keen

The point of the group was to get more fans than Nickelback…they won.  Here’s an amazing video of the victory dance (thanks Lindsay Allen).  Why pick a fight with an army that’s bigger and at their strongest point?  And especially when your band has no talent.

The correct answer comes from Bugs Bunny

If you can’t beat em…join em

The response that wins that battle is not to fight…it’s to jump in and ride the wave.  Why stop the momentum.  If 1.4 million fans and counting think you’re a tool, you do not prove them correct.  You have fun with it.  You can’t run against a river of moving water…but you can use that water’s momentum to carry you.

Here’s the correct response:

• Create a fast video with yourself in a pickle costume or wearing a “Pickleback” t-shirt.  Write a 2 min song about the group and about pickles.  Throw it on their fan page, your fan page, and on Youtube.
• Create a video congratulating the Pickle’s victory.  But let them know that they won the battle but not the war.  Let them know that Nickleback fans are the best in the music industry and they won’t go down without a fight.  Then email your base and get them into the game.  Tell them they need to fight the pickle and tell their friends who love Nickleback to join the Nickleback page.  You’ve now just engaged your community and let them in on the fun.
• Walk around in a “Pickleback” t-shirt and let the paparazzi see you.  They’ll print it and show what a good sport you are to the world and can have a little fun.  It shows you’re a regular down to earth guy…and not a pompous 5 yr old who can’t take a joke.

If you find yourself or your brand deep in a fight with a viral virtual army…assess the situation and take a deep breath.  If the information is deliberate lies and truly hurtful to your brand, fight.  But when the whole thing is tongue and cheek reindeer games, see if there is an angle to join in the fun and take away the opposition by beating them to their own punch.

Social media marketing is an intense battle for attention.

You’re not just in a fight with other industry competitors…you’re battling everyone and everything.  If you have attention coming your way like this…ride the wave by changing the tide.

This is DAY 24 of my “28 Day Blogging Challenge“

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Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a marketing strategist with a specialty in social media.  He is an avid blogger and active across the net.  He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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Does This Pickle Have More Social Media Presence Than You?

Can this pickle get more fans than 90% of Big Brands?

Can a pickle beat big brands at social media marketing?  Yes…I said pickle.  It wasn’t a typo.

I recently posed the question on my blog…”Can A Brand Create a Viral Campaign?“.  I had the same debate on Twitter.  A few folks said that yes, big brands were cabable of creating viral campaigns.  Most, including me, said that they cannot.

Well, here’s the latest viral superstar.  A pickle on Facebook with a page titled Can This Pickle Get More Fans Than Nickleback.

This pickle is kicking the tails of multimillion dollar budgets and the brains of multibillion dollar agencies and corporations.

In 21 days (the Facebook page was created on Feb 02,2010) this Facebook group reached 1.47 million fans.  Yes, I said million.  That my friends is the very definition of “Viral”.

Now let’s compare over 1 million Facebook fans for a pickle to other marketing campaign’s Facebook pages that have television, radio, and print campaigns to boost awareness of their pages.

Hot Tub Time Machine – (Movie) 25,262 fans

This movie has been advertising across movie theaters and on Television.  On their advertisements they are touting their Facebook page.

Sears – 159,037 fans

Television advertisements, including the Super Bowl, have been showcasing their Facebook Page at the end of the ads.

Kenneth Cole – 35,705 fans

Print advertisements have included both their Facebook and Twitter addresses.

Papa Johns – 808,674 fans

This pizza giant has been successful with social media marketing, and even after their campaigns they still fall to the pickle.

So with millions of dollars in these brands marketing budgets and billion dollar PR and marketing agencies creating campaigns, they could still not beat a pickle and the infectious activity and following of what happens when some things go viral.

Brands will continue to try and create a campaign that mimics viral activity…but in most cases a big board room full of marketing veterans can never compete with a random thought that pops into someones head and the web that catapults that thought to the moon.

But the success from silly things like this pickle is the very reason that they’ll keep trying.

This is DAY 23 of my “28 Day Blogging Challenge“

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Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a marketing strategist with a specialty in social media.  He is an avid blogger and active across the net.  He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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How would you answer if a customer asks you…”Why should I be a fan of your Facebook page?”

It’s a reasonable question.  After all, you’re asking them to take the time and energy to join your brand’s page.  It’s perfectly natural for someone to ask “why”.  So do you have a specific and precise answer?  Is it compelling?

Why not?

I have no doubt about your persistence and drive to ask customers or potential customers to become a Fan of your Facebook Page.  Hopefully you’re even having some luck getting them to sign up.  But if your page isn’t creating value and engagement, what reason do they ever have to come back.

Acquiring fans is not the challenge for your brand’s Facebook Page anymore, it’s the starting point.  Because Facebook changed up the News Feed and replaced it with an algorithm, it’s all about engagement, engagement, engagement.   The challenge of a Facebook Page is to create a compelling reason for your fans to continually engage with the Page and take actions.

Engagement is the key to Facebook success for your social media marketing.  Without it, none of your fans, or at least very few of them will even see your updates.

You need to be able to complete these sentences:

My Facebook Page adds value to my customers because…

My Facebook Page adds value to potential customers because…

I am activitely engageing my fans by…

I am creating fan engagement each week by…

Write these answers out.  Analyze what you have written down.  Show them to some trusted business partners and ask for their opinions.

Having trouble with ideas about creating value?  Why not go directly to the source and ask your fans.  Your next post should be something about what are they wanting or expecting from your Page.  How can you increase their interest in this page?

Most marketers create a Facebook Page and expect to see some sort of results without ever really thinking about why anyone would actually want to be a Fan.  Get a leg up on rival pages by critically thinking this through.

All of your fans will appreciate this process and after all, isn’t that the point.

This is DAY 21 of my “28 Day Blogging Challenge“

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Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a marketing strategist with a specialty in social media.  He is an avid blogger and active across the net.  He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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This past weekend Facebook did a nice karate kick to marketers and brands…right in the face.  And the web was ablaze with reaction.  I saw countless posts about how to fix Facebook’s new homepage.  Even protest groups have sprouted up.  The “Facebook: SWITCH BACK TO THE OLD NEWS FEED!!!” group has already reached 1,000,000 members in just three days.

As with all things at The Real Time Marketer, we’re not so much not interested in what Facebook users think, we’re concerned with what these updates mean to marketers and business owners.

Evaluation:  The new Facebook update was a sucker punch to brands.

Here’s why.

In case you missed it, Facebook added 3 new features this weekend.  The most notable being an updated News Feed.  You can read more about it HERE.

In short, the new News Feed changes to Facebook over the weekend were that “highlights” of your News Feed are now the default status, and all the updates you were used to seeing are known as The Live Feed.

The problem to marketers or anyone with a Facebook Page, is that your brand’s Page updates are now at the mercy of the Facebook algorithm.  This magical math formula controlled by the Wizard behind the curtain is what now determines if your Page updates will be seen by your fans…or if it will be ignored on the other side in the land of the lost…know as the Live Feed page.

As a brief test, to see how many updates I’ll actually see throughout the day, I “Fanned” several new pages last night.  Today:  Only 2 updates from Pages showed up in my feed out of 26 updates.  And one of those was my own page.

So basically, 1 out of 26 updates are seen?  That’s not a super high percentage for us marketers or business owners.

According to Facebook: “You’ll see the most interesting things that happened in the last day in the “News Feed” view. News Feed picks stories that we think you’ll enjoy based on a variety of factors including how many friends have liked and commented on it and how likely you are to interact with that story.”

So exactly what decides what’s interesting?  This is an absolute punch in the junk to marketers.  You’ve worked your tail off acquiring Fans to sign up for your page…now they most likely aren’t even going to see you updates.

Facebook’s thinking is obvious…to encourage users to interact with more and grow closer to the people they already have a history of interacting with.  Weaker social connections (like with brand Pages) are less prioritized in this view.

My opinion is that it should be up to each individual user to determine which contacts they interact with.  The new News Feed basically determines that for you.  This is not good for brand Pages.

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Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a social media and marketing strategist.  He also blogs about social media communities at AxeroPulse.com. He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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This is a continuing post from How To Add Email Opt-in Options to Your Facebook Page

In the previous post, I went through exactly how and why to add an email Opt-In “Tab” to your Facebook Page.  The “Tab” is important for Page because it’s an easy way to let your fans know that you have an email list that you would like them to sign-up for.

The problem however, is that there is an extra step involed for them to do so.  Because your Opt-In box is located on a separate tab, people will need to click on the tab to locate it.

While this extra click may seem insignificant to you…it is a problem.  Any extra effort or steps what so ever…will create a barrier for some people.  Anytime you can eliminate steps for people, you’re in better shape.  Here’s how to eliniate that extra step.

Here I’ll be going through how to ad an opt-in “box”.  This box will be located on your Facebook page “Wall,” and for all fans to see when they’re on your page.  No extra effort required, no extra steps needed.

Luckily, this step is very easy to install and basically all of the hard work was completed in Part 1.

Step by Step Instructions – Facebook Email Opt-In Box

1. Log into your Facebook account.
2. Bring up your Facebook page.  On the bottom left of the Facebook interface you’ll see several options, and next to “application” you should see a picture of an “f” with what looks like a door.  That’s the “Ads and Pages” icon, click it.
3. A new page will appear.  Towards the top you should see “Ads Manager”, “Pages”, and “Help”.  Click the “Pages” link.
4. Locate the “Boxes” Tab and click it.
5. Scroll until you find the email opt-in box which you created.  Mine has been labeled “Get Discounts Via Email”.  Directly to the right is a pencil icon, click it.
6. Select “Move to Wall Tab”.
7. Click the “Wall” tab.  Scroll down till you find the box you’ve created.

And Boom, you’ve got yourself a new Email Opt-In box on your Wall.

Bonus:

If you have a personal blog or are a small business you may also want to include an opt-in box on your personal Facebook profile.

1. Log into your Facebook account.
2. Once you’ve logged in, go to the search box in the upper right hand corner and type in “Profile Box”.
3. Locate the application labeled “Profile Box” app and click on it.
4. Locate “Add to My Page” on the left side and click it.
5. A new window will open containing a full list of all of your Facebook pages.  Select which page you would like to add and click the “Add to Page” button.
6. After you’ve added the app, it’s time to add your code.  You’ll see a large space available for your HTML, copy the exact same code you used for your Facebook Page.
7. Select “Submit”.  If you wish to see a preview you can click that too.
8. Now it’s time to go to your profile, select “Profile” at the top of the page.
9. Once your on your own profile page, find the tab that says “Boxes”.  Click it.
10. Scroll until you find the box which you created.  Mine has been labeled “Get Discounts Via Email”.  Directly to the right is a pencil icon, click it.
11. Select “Move to Wall Tab”.

Done.  You’ve successfully added an email opt-in to your personal profile.

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Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a social media and marketing strategist.  He also blogs about social media communities at AxeroPulse.com. He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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The biggest social networking site on the Internet is Facebook.  After only 5 yrs, the site now has over 300 million users.  Your organization can not afford not to have a presence on Facebook for no better reason than…you need to fish where the fish are.  And this is where the fish are!

Many organizations have created Facebook fan pages, in fact , at the beginning of 2009 there were 620,00 pages.  You can view my FlashFiller page is HERE .

While a Facebook Page may be an excellent way to keep people up to date on what happens on their blogs or businesses, it can also be a fantastic way to way to add solid numbers to your email opt-in leads.  Most websites and blogs are designed to feature a section where users can submit their email address, but this strategy is often ignored on Facebook?

Why?  If you have synched your blog to Facebook, or inform “Fans” or potential customers with updates to your business…why would you also neglect to have your email opt-in option on Facebook as well?  The most common reason is simply that most users were unaware of this feature.

Since we’ve already established that this is where the fish are…Facebook can be a terrific source of new sign ups for your news letters, Free content, or whatever else you have selected to offer email subscribers.

I personally use Aweber for my business email list, but this particular service is not necessary for this post.  Any email subscription service with an HTML code option will work.

Of the few Pages I was able to find Email opt-in options, most were only used as a “Tab”.  Meaning, that Fans needed to click on the “Tab” in order to be taken to the opt-in box.  While I think this approach is sound, I think the better option is to place the email opt-in box on the main page.   I will provide instructions for how to do both.

In order to keep this post a manageable length, I have decided to make it two parts.  This is part 1. (Update: Here is Part 2)  We’ll focus on how to add an email opt-in option to a tab on your Facebook Page.

Step by Step Instructions – Facebook Email Opt-In Tab

1. Log into your Facebook account.
2. Once you’ve logged in, go to the search box in the upper right hand corner and type in “FBML”.
3. Locate the application labeled “Static FBML”.  It should appear first on the list.  (If you have trouble deciding which is the correct app, it has around 3.7 million users.  No other app on your search should be anywhere close)
4. Click the icon or the “Static FBML” text link.
5. Locate “Add to My Page” on the left side and click it.
6. A new window will open containing a full list of all of your Facebookpages.  Select which page you would like to add and click the “Add to Page” button.
7. After you’ve added the app, it’s time to bring up your page.  On the bottom left of the Facebook interface you’ll see several options, and next to “application” you should see a picture of an “f” with what looks like a door.  That’s the “Ads and Pages” icon, click it.
8. A new page will appear.  Towards the top you should see “Ads Manager”, “Pages”, and “Help”.  Click the “Pages” link.
9. Locate the Page where you added the Static FBML app, and select “Edit Page”.
10. In the Applications section, scroll down until you find the section that reads “FBML”.  Directly to the right is a pencil icon, click it.
11. Administration options will appear, select “Edit”.
12. Change the “Box Title” to something appealing that will get your readers attention.  My page is designed to distribute Real Time promotions so I chose “Get Discounts Via Email“.
13. Now, add your email opt-in HTML (You will find this at the service you use, mine is Aweber).  Note: for Aweber members, be sure that you use”Raw HTML Version”. Copy and Paste.
14. Once you’re done, select “Save Changes”.
15. Now, go back to your page. (top right should be a link)
16. Once you get back to your page, click on the tab with the plus (+) sign.  It will be aligned with your “Wall”, “Info”, etc. and choose the name of the Box Title you chose.

Congratulations…you have now added a Tab to your Facebook Page for your fans to sign up for emails.
This concludes Part 1.  Tomorrow I will go into how to create a “Box” on your Facebook Page with the same Email Opt-In.  See ya then!

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Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a social media and marketing strategist.  He also blogs about social media communities at AxeroPulse.com. He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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The blogosphere was full of chatter yesterday when it was announced by Addtoany, a Web tool publishing company that lets users share content, that more people use Facebook as a platform to share links than any other option, including email, and by a pretty wide margin.
According to addtoany, Facebook now accounts for 24 percent of all items being shared.  Email finishes second at 11.1 percent and close behind at third is Twitter at 10.8 percent of all items shared.  See the full list here:

AddToAny’s widget is accessed over 1.5 billion times per month so although they are not the end all be all authority…they certainly have earned the right to make news when statistics like this are announced.  To add to the accuracy of this statistic, it is backed up by the AddThis (20 times larger than AddToAny) findings that Facebook accounts for 23.5 percent of shares on their platform, virtually identical statistics.

So, if everyone is now sharing the majority of their links on Facebook instead of email, I thought I’d review some additional Facebook Apps that you can use to share the more common information normally reserved for email.   I prefer a more dynamic and real time experience so I’ll try any attempt to draw me away from the static email platform.

I pulled some popular Facebook apps getting buzz and deciding whether or not I’ll use it.  Here’s my criteria:

• What does it do?
• Is it easy to install?
• Is it easy to use?
• Does the app improve the functionality of my Facebook experience?
• Does it integrate any other social networks?

PowerPoints / Presentations

SlideShare:

• What does it do: Share and publish presentations within your Facebook network.

• Is it easy to install: You need to sign up for an account, but they make it easy by allowing access directly on the Facebook page.  Signup took about 3 minutes.

• Is it easy to use: Yes.  Adding a slideshow is extremely easy and doesn’t take any time to figure out.

• Does the app improve the functionality of my Facebook experience: Yes.  You can add a Slideshare page on your profile giving others an opportunity to see your work.

• Does it integrate any other social networks: SlideShare also works with Linkedin. Sync your account and all 3 areas can be instantly updated when uploaded to just one.

• Additional Info: Slideshare supports formats ppt, pps, pptx, odp, pdf, doc, docx, odt, Keynote, iWork pages and can embed YouTube videos in presentations.  Audio can also be inserted to create and share a webinar.  The presentations can be tagged, commented, rated, embedded into blogs, and downloaded by others.

• Will I be using it: Yes.  Slideshare allows a bigger audience to be exposed to work you’ve already created.  Why not reach a bigger audience?  You can find my presentations at http://www.slideshare.net/thescottbishop

Bookmarking

Delicious

• What does it do: The Delicious Facebook App bridges your Delicious account with Facebook.  The app allows for your recent bookmark summary to be displayed in your Facebook Profile and or Show your in your Facebook News Feed

• Is it easy to install: Yes, but you need a preexisting account with Delicious.  Since I already had one, I quickly jumped to this link and filled out the appropriate info.  Total time took about 90 seconds.

• Is it easy to use: Yes.  It works on its own and whenever you bookmark a site with Delicious the app publishes to your profile automatically.

• Does the app improve the functionality of my Facebook experience: Yes.    Displaying your recent bookmarks to your profile can let your friends see what interesting links you’ve been reading.  Exposing others to sites or articles you find useful can spur conversations, and ultimately help you find new information to subjects you are interested in.

• Does it integrate any other social networks: Yes.  It integrates Delicious.com .

• Will I be using it: Yes.  Since I already had a preexisting account, its really no trouble for me.  I also like the idea of link sharing and this does it with no additional effort.  I have chosen to display links on both my profile and news feeds.  Depending on how often I bookmark links, I may disable the news feed option so I don’t overwhelm my contacts with updates.  You can find me on Delicious at http://delicious.com/scott_bishop

File Sharing

Divshare

• What does it do: Quick & easy way to share videos, MP3s, images, docs, and any other file with your friends or post to your own wall or news stream.

• Is it easy to install: This is by far the fastest and easiest file sharing app.  I was up and running in about 4 steps.  All of the functions take place under the Facebook platform so no need to sign up for other accounts.  Total time to install was about 45 seconds.  In order for your friends to view your files, they will need to install the app, but since their is no need to fill out new account information the convenience factor is high.

• Is it easy to use: Very easy to send a file.  But when receiving a document, you are notified via the “Notifications” button in the bottom right hand corner of Facebook, not in the inbox which I can see as a problem.    With so many updates taking place all day long, it may be easy to miss your file.  to correct this, after installing, Divshare can be used in the email function, use the app there and it eliminates this problem.

• Does the app improve the functionality of my Facebook experience: Yes.  Facebook makes it easy to post videos and pics on your news stream, but not to individual friends or groups or friends. Divshare allows virtually any type of file to be added, and more importantly, DivShare allows you to send files to individual friends that are not publicized on your stream.

• Additional Information: Downloads are limited to 200MB each so if you have really large movie files you may be seeking other options.  Storage is limited to 5GB and Downloads at 10GB, so for a free app, you should have plenty of space.  *Note: I did receive an error on both sending and receiving a document the first time I tried the app

• Does it integrate any other social networks: No

• Will I be using it: Yes.  The real time nature of Facebook is appealing so while chatting on Facebook, I can send files simultaneously.

Office Document Apps

Zoho Office Online Suite

• What does it do: Zoho is an incredibly robust and free online office suite.  This application has everything you could need, from a word processor, online spreadsheet, presentations, and document program to a full database and form creator.

• Is it easy to install: In order to access Zoho, you will need to sign up.  Creating an account took about 1 minute, and although they have a Facebook app, you cannot log on using your Facebook profile information.  Your Google log-in information does work so signing up is still a snap.

• Is it easy to use: It’s hard to complain about a free application, but many inconveniences do come with the Zoho app.  Each time you click on a link in the app…you’re taken to the Zoho website for access.  The biggest hurdle with Zoho however, is with sharing and collaborating on any of your documents.  While yes, you can select which of your friends can access the docs, they must also be signed up for Zoho.  So everybody better be on board or you’ll be sharing and editing docs by yourself. 

• Does the app improve the functionality of my Facebook experience:  No.  There is a lot of value to keep things centrally located and easy for others to locate.  Depending on where you work, most of your colleagues or contacts are already on Facebook, so being able to collaborate on a platform where everyone is already on is extremely appealing.  But as I mentioned earlier, a Facebook account is only the first step.  Anyone involved must also be signed up at Zoho.

• Does it integrate any other social networks? No

• Will I be using it: No.  While I do think it’s convenient to be able to access documents from within Facebook, if I’m constantly taken from the Facebook platform, why wouldn’t I just continue to use Google docs or Micosoft Office and then just use a file sharing system?  It just doesn’t seem convenient, Facebook access or not.  Overall I can find easier ways to complete the same tasks.

Project Management

TooDooz Project Management

I tried to review this app but each time I tried to access the application I received an error message.  So I will not currently be using this app.  Perhaps you’ll have better luck than me.

What apps are you currently using on Facebook to improve office functionality?  Which apps should I include for another review?

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